


it's only logical

by quiettewandering



Series: Spirk Tumblr Prompts [4]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Hurt Jim, Logical Cuddles, M/M, Protective Spock (Star Trek), Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 20:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15444717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiettewandering/pseuds/quiettewandering
Summary: When trapped on an icy planet with only one set of blankets, what are a Captain and First officer supposed to do?





	it's only logical

**Author's Note:**

> anon prompt: Jim and Spock are stranded on an icy planet with only one set of blankets. Oh no what to do?! LOGICAL CUDDLES OF COURSE!

Jim doesn’t expect  _ every  _ exploration to a planet to go well. But just  _ one  _ exploration going well, every once in a while, would be nice. Preferably one where Jim is not once again injured, allergic to something in the damn planet’s atmosphere, and separated from the rest of the crew.

They were on the planet for barely minutes before the humanoids native to the planet attacked them. Starfleet previously believed the planet to be uninhabited; and man, were they were proved wrong. 

Spock was trying to calm the attacking party down (of course), and if Jim hadn’t stepped in and announced himself as Captain, and offered himself up as a hostage, who knows what they would have done to Spock. The rest of the landing party was able to beam back to the ship when the small army took both Spock and Jim as collateral. 

They got away from their captives; eventually. Not before Jim pushed Spock out of the way of one of their weapons and got it caught into his own back instead. Spock looked ready to yank that weapon out of Jim’s back and throw it back at their captors but Jim ordered him to keep running.

Jim was surprised that the pissed-off humanoids gave up the search. He was less surprised when an unexpected snow-storm blew through the atmosphere, pelting Jim’s face with icy hail and making his fingers numb before they found shelter in an equally cold cave. 

Jim leans against a rock, trying to catch his breath, while Spock fruitlessly tries to work their comms. Spock looks over at Jim, eyes very human and very worried.

“I predict that the  _ Enterprise _ will be unable to find our heat signature on the planet’s surface due to the storm,” Spock says. “And you require medical attention…” 

Jim nods at the survival pack he managed to steal back from their captors as they were escaping. “There should be a medi-pack in here.”

There’s tense, painful silence as Spock examines his back. Jim clenches his jaw when Spock brushes against a remarkably sensitive part of the wound. 

“Captain, this injury is very deep. I will have to clean and dress it.”

“Just stop the bleeding, Spock, I’ll be fine until we can contact the ship.”

“You will not,” Spock says sharply. “Based on my knowledge of the meteorology of this planet as well as the typical duration of its atmospheric anomalies, I expect this storm to last no shorter than 13.56 hours. However, you will need medical attention before that happens.”

Jim sighs and tenderly pulls his arm through the sleeve of his uniform. “Fine. But let’s make this quick, I’m freezing.”

Spock has this  _ look  _ on his face the whole time he’s binding and cleaning Jim’s wound; Jim can’t decide if it’s distaste at seeing that much of Jim’s skin or if he’s truly uncomfortable with the triage aspects of being a Starfleet officer. Jim bites on his fist and looks ahead at the damp walls of the cave, finding himself, for once, wishing for one of Bones’ godless hypos.

“I am finished,” Spock finally says, sitting back on his heels. He looks pale. “I believe that will prevent infection until Doctor McCoy can more closely examine it.” 

Jim nods. He moves to pull his shirt back on, but he can feel his skin scraping against the bandage. He tries to bite back a yell and it comes out as an unmanly whimper instead.

Spock’s hand is on the uninjured part of his back immediately. “Do not move,” he says. “Wait a moment.” 

Through gritted teeth Jim retorts, “As much as I’d love to just crouch here for the next 13-and-whatever hours, Spock, I don’t think—”

“Only a moment,” Spock replies. Jim can hear shuffling behind him. 

After endless moments Spock takes both his arms and starts to pivot him toward the ground. Jim sees a thermal sleeping bag laid on the cave floor, along with a canteen of something assumedly warm. Because Spock is logical like that, to make sure his pack is filled with essentials for any and all weather conditions, and Jim is not.

“Spock, you’re a lifesaver,” Jim says, the sight of the sleeping bag making him exhausted.

“Lie on your stomach, so as not to disturb your bandages,” Spock replies. 

Jim is barely conscious to hear the zipping of the sleeping bag around him as Spock tucks him in, cocooning him in a cozy warmth. It puts him to sleep immediately. 

His eyes open again, who knows how long later, to the sight of flickering shadows on the cave wall, indicating that Spock made a fire. Jim stiffly turns his head. The feeling of his damaged skin being pulled with the movement is agony. He sees Spock, leaning against the cave wall, chin resting against his chest, sitting very still.

Way too still.

“Spock?” Jim calls across the cave. “ _ Spock! _ ”

Spock jolts and looks up at Jim with wide eyes. “Captain? What is the matter?”

Jim lets out a breath. “Nothing, you just weren’t…. I just wanted to check on you.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Spock sits up straighter against the rock and blinks a few times. “I will endeavor to stay awake and keep watch.”

“I mean, I could—”

“You’re injured.” Spock’s tone doesn’t brook any chance at an argument. “Continue resting.”

Jim lays his head on the ground and stares at Spock. The skin around his eyes are pinched, and Spock’s shoulders look even tenser than usual. Spock is staring at the cave entrance as if it’s taking his whole concentration to do so.

“Spock.” Jim extends an arm out of his sleeping bag when Spock looks at him. “Come over here.”

Hesitantly, Spock crawls to Jim. Despite the pain, Jim reaches out and feels one of Spock’s hands. His skin is cold to the touch. He examines Spock’s face more clearly, the obvious tremble of his body. 

“Spock. You’re freezing.”

“Affirmative.” 

Jim, in that moment, wants to strangle his first officer. “Why didn’t you  _ say _ anything?”

“My body is simply not used to the cold weather. I will be able to regulate my body temperature in due time.”

“‘Due time’? What, you mean by the time you’ve died of cold?” Jim stares at Spock for a moment longer before making his very stupid, yet very smart decision. He begins to perfunctorily unzipping his sleeping bag well announcing, “All right, Spock. Climb on in.”

Spock gives him an alarmed look, like Jim had suggested he take his clothes off and dance in the snow rather than share a sleeping bag. “Captain?”

“No sense in you freezing to death when it can be avoided, right? We’ll share body heat. This thing should be big enough for the two of us. If anything we can just not zip it.” Jim knows he’s rambling. But he’s nervous. For reasons he doesn’t want to think about. 

Besides, this is  _ survival.  _ No ulterior motive behind it. Well, for one of them, anyway.

Spock stares at Jim for a moment before slowly conceding, “Yes, Captain.” He carefully slides in next to Jim, on his left side so that he won’t disturb Jim’s wound. He faces Jim, which makes their faces… awfully close. Spock pulls the sides of the sleeping bag around them, zipping them in for warmth. 

Jim nods, satisfied. “Good. Now you won’t die of cold, and if I start bleeding out again or die in my sleep, you’ll notice.”

Spock’s lips twitch. “Yes, Captain.”

Jim shifts. “As Captain, I’m ordering you to stay here so you stay be alive, but as your friend… I’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable right now.”

“I am not uncomfortable, Jim.”

Jim smiles. His eyes flutter closed. It’s  _ really  _ warm and cozy with Spock next to him. Almost too cozy, as in love-to-have-it-be-this-way-every-time-he-sleeps-cozy.

Which, is of course, probably why he wakes up with his arms and legs wrapped around Spock like a demented monkey. 

What’s weirder is that Spock is not only  _ letting  _ him, he also has an arm around Jim, and his fingers are  _ moving,  _ tenderly stroking his back as if Jim’s something precious.

Jim moves a little to show that he’s awake. Spock immediately withdraws his hand. “Sorry,” Jim murmurs. “I attach to things… people… when I sleep.”

“It is alright, Captain.” There’s a pause, filled with awkwardness. “I was simply trying to ascertain if your wound is covered properly.”

“It feels fine.” Jim lets out a breath. “How long was I sleeping?”

“Only 2.46 hours.”

Jim stifles a frustrated groan. There’s hours to go before the storm lifts. He shifts minutely in the sleeping bag, as if that will get him further away from Spock. “Sorry, I can…”

“No,” Spock says a little too quickly. “It’s warm. What I mean to say is—it’s all right.”

Jim shifts. It’s a little  _ too  _ warm and the region between his legs is getting a bit  _ too  _ interested. “If you want, you can have the sleeping bag for a little while. I’m not as affected by the cold as you.”

Spock’s face shows that he thinks that’s a really stupid suggestion. “You’re injured, Captain.”

“Yeah but you shouldn’t have to be pressed up against me like this. Vulcans need their space. And I—”

“Jim.” The use of his first name makes Jim shut up. “This is not… unpleasant.”

Jim scoffs. In Vulcan, that means ‘ _ I hate it, but it’s bearable” _ ’ “Okay. Sure.”

Spock lets out a small breath. He’s looking up at the cave ceiling with no expression. In the quiet of the cave he says, “This is far better than… the alternative.”

“And what’s that?”

He turns his head to look at Jim. “Than having to share this sleeping bag alone.” 

Jim’s face softens. “I was never going to  _ die _ , Spock.”

“You did not know what the outcome would be when you put yourself in the path of that weapon instead of me.” 

“Wait, you’re  _ mad  _ about that?”

Spock’s lips tighten. “It is unacceptable for a Captain to put himself in harm’s way for an inferior office, one that can be replaced.”

“You can’t be replaced, you idiot.”

“Any number of officers can take my place. Ones with my skill and intellect. You, however.” Spock stops and huffs out a breath. “You can not be.”

Jim closes his eyes in frustration, briefly. “You’re never gonna get it, will you?”

“‘Get’ what, Captain?”

Jim opens his eyes to Spock looking directly at him. “I didn’t save you as a  _ Captain _ , I saved you as a friend.” Maybe it’s the injury, maybe it’s the blood loss, maybe it’s the cold, maybe it’s the sleeping bag sharing—maybe it’s the fact that Spock is staring at him with this  _ look.  _ His eyes flicker downward in embarrassment. 

“We have had this conversation before,” Spock softly says.

“Under worse circumstances,” Jim agrees.

“I was…” Spock pauses, and now Jim’s worried, because that  _ never  _ happens. “I was unable to tell you what I really thought, in that moment.”

Jim stares at him, waiting. Feeling, inexplicably, like a big bomb was about to drop. “Are you.. Uh… are you going to tell me now?”

Spock takes a breath that seems to steady him. “You talk of saving me because you’re my friend, not my Captain. I… I confess that I do the same for you, but in a more… amorous manner.” 

Jim stares at him. 

“As more than a friend, as you might say,” Spock adds softly, to clarify.

Jim says, intelligently, “Oh.”

There’s a really,  _ really  _ loud silence that follows. Jim finally sputters out, “Look, Spock I think I’m… hallucinating right now, or something. Let’s chalk this whole conversation up to my human emotionalism or whatever the hell. I’ll—” He begins fiddling with the sleeping bag zipper, but it’s exercising an act in betrayal and isn’t opening. “Why doesn’t anything work when I—”

“Jim.” The depth of Spock’s tone makes Jim freeze. He looks up. There’s no judgment, or disgust, or anger in Spock’s eyes, like he thought there would be. Only this soft warm thing that’s slowly unfurling and makes Jim’s chest equally warm and calm. “I am trying to tell you that I am in love with you.”

Jim gaps. Long enough for Spock to look uncomfortable.

“You do not have to respond—”

“Me too,” Jim blurts out. He raises himself up onto an elbow, looking down at Spock. “I, uh.” He’s bad at this. “Have the same, uh, amorous feelings for you. As well.”

There’s almost a  _ smile  _ on Spock’s face when he replies, “I see.” 

Knowing he should do something to dig himself out of the hole he dug, the hole that says  _ Hi I’m Jim Kirk the ladies man but with my Vulcan I’m a blushing and useless teenager,  _ Jim drapes a hesitant arm around Spock instead. Spock reaches out and cups Jim’s cheek. Jim buries his face into Spock’s neck and breathes in the spicy, woodsy, scent that Jim always associates with Spock. Spock puts a hand on the uninjured side of Jim’s back and rests his cheek on Jim’s head. They both lay there for a moment, resting in the simplicity of the moment: of being in love, and finally knowing that they’re being loved back.

“Is cuddling logical, for Vulcans?” Jim murmurs into Spock’s skin. 

“Only if said Vulcan is in love with the one they are ‘cuddling’,” Spock replies.

Jim squeezes Spock tighter, no matter how much it hurts his back. “Good.” 

The remaining hours in the snowstorm go by much, much quicker after that.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for stopping by<3 
> 
> say hi to me [on tumblr!](https://spockfallsinlove.tumblr.com)


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